Quotes from Richard Linklater

I look up and go, 'I'm living in the world I visualized a long time ago.' From making movies, to the Film Society, to just being in a film world. It's a life that I wanted to inhabit. I think everyone has the opportunity to do that in this world - it's just, are you gonna work for it, and how much does it mean to you?

Well, you have to keep your faith in the fact that there are a lot of intelligent people who are actively looking for something interesting, people who have been disappointed so many times.

I remember playing for coaches who seemed like military-type guys. It always rubbed me the wrong way.

Anything that confirms for me the transitory nature of reality isn't bad. It's a good lesson in human hubris.

The truth will only be told over a career.

Whatever story you want to tell, tell it at the right size.

When you're in love, you're asking someone else to fulfill all your unfulfilled needs, to make you whole, and to make you feel good about everything, and no one can do that.

County jail in some ways can be the most dangerous because it's often the least regulated.

Yes, but Hollywood is the strangest place in that they'll torpedo their own film to prove an emotional point.

Some films really do take years to get going, but I'd say that most of the films I want to do are slightly smaller projects. Some could be sketches. They're not all oil paintings.

I'm lucky that I get to jump around, do a big-budget comedy and then a smaller film. I don't even make a big distinction between them.

Music and smells are the most memory-recall, nostalgia-inducing things.

Artists are great. They jump in.

I think you get in trouble if you make experimental big studio films.

The best thing for your psyche as you try to accomplish anything, really, is to just concentrate on all the little things. And not just as a means to an end, but truly enjoy them.

Are any of us self-taught? It just means I didn't go to school for it. But you do have teachers. You have mentors.

My working method has always been, 'Work really hard and get it right the first time.'

Every film's different; every story is so different. But I think I've always been attracted to try to take something minimal and to maximize it cinematically. To find out if I can I really go all the way with one idea.

Every college player thinks they're on their way. But, delusions aside, I might have toiled in the minor leagues for a bit.

I don't see the arts as competitive at all. It was a better angel of my nature. Sports is zero-sum: winner, loser, demonstrable.

It's luck that one thing works out and one doesn't, it's sort of happenstance.

I just love being on a movie set. I like making movies.

Every stage of filmmaking's important while you're doing it, so I spend most of my time figuring out how to tell the story. I have all these stories and ideas, but it's how to tell the story.

I have an uncomfortable groove, 'cause I have a lot of different kinds of stories to tell.